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Assault Kommandos
The Assault Kommandos are an elite force in the Khadoran military specialized in trench warfare to counter the increasing threat of Cygnaran Trencher Corps. Heavily armed and armored, these troops augment their battle training with advanced alchemical weaponry.The Assault Kommandos were created under the guidance of warcaster Oleg Strakhov after the invasion of Llael had transitioned from war to occupation. Strakhov was assigned to help further modernize the Khadoran Army and his suggestions led to the formation of the Assault Kommandos, whom he would lead. Since then, Strakhov and his Kommandos have executed the High Kommand’s most dangerous missions.Forces of Warmachine: Khador Command MK3 History During the Khadoran invasion of Llael in 604 AR Khador annexed almost the entirety of Llael with an efficiency and ruthlessness, all thanks to Gurvald Irusk’s doctrine of combined arms and innovative use of artillery. However the improvised earthworks and tactics employed by Cygnaran trencher units that were sent to aid their allies proved to be one of the most serious impediments to a flawless Khadoran victory. During the invasion, Irusk had made extensive use of the highly decorated warcaster Kommander Viktor Strakhov. Strakhov had proven to Irusk that he could carry out operations deep behind enemy lines with minimal or no support. Strakhov had been at the top of his class at the Druzhina Academy and was a peerless field commander. While he was a potent sorcerer with a powerful connection to his warjacks, he preferred to rely on his own wits and physical superiority whenever possible. He even went so far as to train in his unpowered warcaster armor and was more than capable of overcoming an opponent in hand-to-hand combat while encumbered by the tremendously heavy plates and furnace. Among Strakhov’s list of accomplishments during the war, many of which are still highly classified by the Prikaz Chancellery, were numerous actions against entrenched Cygnaran positions. So adept was he at clearing these earthworks that Irusk made a point of seeking him out while recuperating from severe wounds suffered during the last days of the campaign.No Quarter #29 Strakhov and Irusk laid down the plans for creating new kind of soldier and within a year, Irusk had designed a training regimen to produce soldiers who would meet his new vision. These warriors would be handpicked volunteers from within the Winter Guard, committed to a lifetime of service to the Motherland. Their advanced training would emphasize survival, endurance, and a willingness to take actions at which their enemies would balk. Their role in combat would be purely offensive and focus on the breaching of entrenched positions via speed and surprise. Their training regimen was personally overseen by Strakhov, and the training regimen he created was punishing in the extreme. Of the initial five hundred Winter Guard who volunteered for the mysterious program, only one hundred were selected, and less than fifty graduated. The training exercises included evaluations to determine that each assault kommando would be willing to take any action necessary to achieve victory without regard for their own lives or civilian casualties.The impressive results even surprised Irusk himself, and the Greylords Covenant sent observers to future classes with the intent of applying Strakhov’s techniques to their own training programs. Meanwhile alchemists and other resources of the Order of the Golden Crucible captured during the invasion were quickly put to work to find ways to counter the trenchers and their signature smoke bombs. Each Kommando would carry a Vislovski carbine made to Irusk’s exacting specifications which included a permanently affixed blade in place of a bayonet and an integral underslung canister that fired specially crafted canisters filled with strangle gas. The bombs would explode on impact and release a powerful alchemical gas. Heavier than air, the gas would settle into the low trenches, choking and sickening all who breathed it. The assault kommandos were issued masks that filtered poisons and pollutants, protecting their wearers from all manner of toxins, particularly the strangle gas the kommandos would employ. Furthermore, exacting alchemical techniques applied to the lenses of the masks allowed the human eye to pierce clouds of smoke while their armor was treated with alchemical mixtures that prevented even extreme temperatures or caustic alchemical agents from harming the wearers. Finally, the kommandos were equipped with light but extremely resilient shields made of unique alchemical alloys. With these locked in place, the unit could approach an enemy emplacement and withstand intense punishment while returning fire through specially cut grooves in the shields. The Assault Kommandos were baptized by fire in mid-605 AR on Donard 5th, Katesh 605 AR when shortly afternightfall four units of kommandos led by Strakhov himself assaulted the forward Cygnaran position. The soldiers crossed the ravaged no man’s land with quick strides, easily avoiding the barbed wire and barricades littering the field. Mere feet from the first earthworks, the rearmost rank of kommandos fired canisters of strangle gas into the trench. Almost simultaneously the leading ranks threw themselves forward, shooting their carbines into the mass of choking trenchers and long gunners. In less than three hours fewer than forty assault kommandos slaughtered almost sixty trenchers and associated Cygnaran soldiers with only light casualties which resulted in Khador gained almost two dozen yards, a shocking forward movement in the grinding trench warfare that had developed between Ravensguard and Northguard. However Irusk’s first major assault on the fortress was narrowly repealed by Cygnaran forces thanks to the several warcasters that were stationed their. But less than two years later, Irusk and Strakhov had perfected their tactics and Northguard fell beneath a tremendous assault, spearheaded by waves of then-veteran assault kommandos. However, the enemies of the Motherland have developed counter-tactics for kommando assaults, vastly reducing their effectiveness. Because of this, the Khadoran Mechanics Assembly developed flamethrowers, another benefit of captured Golden Crucible alchemists. It is likely the High Kommand will continue to use the assault kommandos to test new breakthroughs in weaponry, as few other soldiers are as well equipped to adapt to the changing face of warfare. References Category:Khador Category:Organisations